Hominidae
Humans, great apes, and their extinct relatives
This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.
The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.
You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.
For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.
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White, T. D., G. Suwa, and B. Asfaw. 1994. Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 371:306-312.
White, T. D., G. WoldeGabriel, B. Asfaw, S. Ambrose, Y. Beyene, R. L. Bernor, J.-R. Boisserie, B. Currie, H. Gilbert, Y. Haile-Selassie, W. K. Hart, L. J. Hlusko, F. C. Howell, R. T. Kono, T. Lehmann, A. Louchart, C. O. Lovejoy, P. R. Renne, H. Saegusa, E. S. Vrba, H. Wesselman and G. Suwa. 2006. Asa Issie, Aramis and the origin of Australopithecus. Nature 440:883-889.
WoldeGabriel, G., Y. Haile-Selassie, P. R. Renne, W. K. Hart, S. H. Ambrose, B. Asfaw, G. Heiken, and T. White. 2001. Geology and palaeontology of the Late Miocene Middle Awash Valley, Afar rift, Ethiopia. Nature 412:175-178.
Wood, B. 1996. Human evolution. BioEssays 18:945-954.
Wood, B. and B. G. Richmond. 2000. Human evolution: taxonomy and paleobiology. Journal of Anatomy 197:19-60.
Information on the Internet
- Hominidae. The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Animal Diversity Web.
- Fossil Of Earliest Hominid Known Found In Ethiopia. UniSci Science and Research News, July 2001.
- New early human fossils. Nature Science Update, July 2001.
- Hominid fossils show their age. BBC News April 2003.
- Amazing hominid haul in Ethiopia. BBC News January 2005.
- Scientists unearth early skeleton. BBC News March 2005.
- Fossils fill gap in human lineage. BBC News April 2006.
- Ethiopian fossils link ape-men with earlier hominids. UCBerkeleyNews April 2006.
- Living Links. A Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution.
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Tree of Life Web Project. 1999. Hominidae. Humans, great apes, and their extinct relatives. Version 01 January 1999 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Hominidae/16299/1999.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/